Dos (Region)
The Dos are a robust people inhabiting the craggy mountains of the Eastern Peninsula. Scattered throughout the remote highlands are small settlements clustered around the tall stone towers. Some of the villages around the richest Runestone mines grew into vibrant cities. Though the region has been considered a province of the Reach for most of the Emperor's reign, an active Dos Nationalist movement has been steadily working to disrupt imperial authority at every turn. Eastroth Eastroth is the nominal capital of the Dos, and center of Reach operations in the region. Undercurrents of sectarian conflict pervade, though on the whole order is preserved through strict authoritarian control over citizens' lives. Dos within the city limits are not allowed to assemble in groups of more than 5 without a permit. Dun Tower in Eastroth connects the Eastern Line from the capitol to other points in the Dos, though the lines are often sabotaged. As a result, Eastroth billets the largest standing battalion of Wynders outside the Clocktower in Telos. The city was called Dos Andal before the Reach occupation, and some people still refer to it by this name. Architecturally, Eastroth is very Reach; The first imperial governor demolished the distinctive Dos towers to solidify Eastroth's assimilation. Dos Norda Dos Norda—the other main city firmly under Reach control, and the beachhead for landing troops and supplies in the area by airship. The old line between Norda and Eastroth has collapsed, so the quickest method of communication to the Reach network is by airship to Henshed. Much of the counter-insurgency activity in the highlands is conducted out of the forward operating base in Dos Norda. Dos Alan Located on the southern rim of the Bay of Storms, Dos Alan sprawls along the windmill-peppered-edge, with airlocks extending into the void. The great face of Whist, the wind god looms over the edge as well, keeping a watchful eye on harboring ships. Home to some of the oldest temples anywhere in Edgeworld, Alan was once the grandest city of the Dos. As the major source of Runestones South of the Scar , the Reach has invested considerable effort in holding the region. In endless conflict, Dos Alan has changed hands many times over the past decades—a continuous supply of reach soldiers flood the region, constantly rebuffed by well entrenched Dos partisans. Guerrilla tactics continue to weaken Reach influence over the city. Rebels and sympathetic pirates make reinforcement by airship difficult, while the terrain itself makes land reinforcement almost impossible. Dos Tal Dos Tal is nestled in a mountain valley, almost hidden until you stumble over the pass and in a lush green meadow, surrounded by cold rocky slopes, is the city. Many circular stone towers rise up, with wooden houses, shops, inns, and palaces all hanging precariously, and rope-bridges and pulleys between them. One tower rises up through the middle above the rest, with a uniform wooden palisade around the top. A stone roadway winds up through the towers, connecting them and going through them, so it is possible to take a wagon from the meadow almost halfway up the main tower. The commoners market is at the ground level, in the mud below the towers. Dos Tal is connected to the reach by a clockwork line, but is so remote and inaccessible that the Reach has negligible presence there. Dos nationalism is strong, as it is throughout the highlands, but the lack of Reach interference in the region evidently fosters little fever for rebellion or activism. On the same hand, by virtue of its isolation, there are whispers of Dos Tal as a haven for Dos freedom fighters trying to lie low. The tucked away town is also notable for the sun temple honoring Huan, and the cult shrine for Yorath the Titan , the legendary founder of Dos Tal.